Washington DC—Heralded as therapeutic
smart bombs that zero in on cancer cells and leave healthy cells intact, targeted
cancer therapies appear to offer a safer, more effective approach to fighting
cancer than conventional chemotherapy. Drugs such as imatinib mesylate (Gleevec),
one of the most successful examples of these new targeted therapies to date,
are designed to interfere with the aberrant molecular mechanisms that promote
the abnormal growth of cells.